Whatever became of Eugene Tobin?
mainThe international American tenor died on November 8 in South Bend, Indiana. His death has not been reported in any US media, national or local. He was 97.
Tobin sang opposite Tebaldi in Tosca and was billed twice to sing with Callas, but she kept getting herself fired. He sang small roles in Bayreuth in 1953-54 and was a member of the Hamburger Staatsoper cast 1956-64, also guesting in Cologne, Stuttgart, Berlin, Vienna and Florence. In 1965 he joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein at Düsseldorf-Duisburg.
Some might say he lived too long to be remembered.
I worked with his son, Tim, also a very promising jugendlicher Heldentenor and winner of the Lauritz Melchoir competition sometime in the early nineties. He seems to have disappeared, but I remember him talking a lot about his father at the time. Renata Tebaldi came to hear Tim sing one evening, but I don’t know if his father came too.
I saw him as Calaf, opposite Rysanek and Gencer in Los Angeles (1957) and as Eric, opposite Nilsson’s Senta in Chicago–1959. He was excellent in both roles.